This invention relates generally to store carriers for mounting a releasable store on an aircraft and, more particularly, to store carriers from which a store is released with ejective force applied at forward and aft locations by thrusters which are usually actuated by pressurized gas.
The store referred to herein may be used to contain munitions, or to contain other material to be dropped from an aircraft. In any event, when such a store is released from a high-speed aircraft, it is necessary that it be forcibly ejected away from the local field of air flow around the aircraft. Typically, ejection is effected by the use of explosive cartridges which are ignited as the store is released and which generate gas at sufficiently high pressure to force one or more pistons downwardly against the store for the desired forcible ejection. A store carrier of this general type, having forward and aft pistons for ejection of the store, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,598,341, on an invention by Emmett T LaRoe, et al., entitled "Aircraft Store Carrier." In particular, FIG. 10 of the aforementioned patent and its accompanying description relate to a store carrier of the type referred to herein.
It has been found from experimentation and analysis that it is highly desirable to control the pitch of the store during its forcible ejection from the aircraft, both to ensure clean separation, and to improve accuracy in the desired point of impact of the store. The pitch imparted to the store on its release is determined largely by the rate at which gas is supplied to the thrusters or pistons at the forward and aft positions. Heretofore, this gas flow rate has been controlled by the use of fixed orifices installed in the store carrier during its assembly. These orifices are often selected to meet a worst-case condition of the store, but are usually less than optimum, and even detrimental to operations under other store or flight configurations. Ideally, the orifices should be selected on the basis of specific store and flight parameters, but this has not been practical, principally because replacement of the orifices is a very time-consuming operation, often requiring partial disassembly of the store carrier.
Some attempts have been made at pitch control by utilizing vents to bleed off the pressure from one piston or the other to provide the necessary differential ejection force. However, venting or bleeding of the gas supplied to the pistons inherently reduces the gas pressure and the total effective ejection force. Consequently, pitch can be controlled by this means only at the expense of introducing variations in other ejection parameters.
From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that there exists a need for an aircraft store carrier which includes a readily adjustable means for controlling the pitch of the store on its ejection from the aircraft. The present invention fulfills this need.